After the first seven episodes filled season one of ABC’s new series “Once Upon a Time” with plenty of revenge, resentment, love and fantasy, it will be interesting to see what the show has in store for its new season.
The series premiered on ABC back in October. It features a cast that includes Ginnifer Goodwin from HBO’s “Big Love” and Jennifer Morrison from the medical drama “House.”
Designed by its writers, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (the creators of “Lost”) as a modern day family drama, “Once Upon a Time” explores classic fairy tales and their link to the quiet little town of Storybrooke, Maine.
The Storybrooke residents are under the curse of the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla from “24”). Snow White (Goodwin), along with the characters Prince Charming, Rumplestiltskin, Cinderella and several others, are trapped in the small town with no recollection of their fairytale lives.
It is up to Henry, the adopted son of the Evil Queen, and Emma Swan (Morrison), a stranger to Storybrooke who turns out to be the child the Evil Queen gave up for adoption years before, to save everyone and break the curse.
The plot has a bit of far-fetched romanticism to it, however, the show draws audiences in with its familiar storylines and understanding that people need a happily ever after.
The stories of Snow White and the Huntsman, Jiminy Cricket, and Cinderella have already been featured in the show’s previous episodes.
There are additions to each tale that are not commonly known, such as what happened to Cinderella’s first child and how Snow White convinced the Huntsman into sparing her life.
"We kept circling back to the idea of fairytales,” Horowitz told ABC. “They're full of magic and heroics and fear and joy. But we also found fairytales are full of all these unanswered questions.”
To the audience’s dismay, “Once Upon a Time” tends to leave viewers with a plethora of unanswered questions at the end of every episode.
Last season finished with a particularly aggravating cliffhanger when Storybrooke’s Sheriff Graham collapsed to the ground in what appeared to be a fatal heart attack brought on by the Evil Queen.
Audiences were left wondering if the charismatic and attractive sheriff has simply been killed off or has become the victim of something more mysterious.
Most are hoping for the latter as a romance between the sheriff and the protagonist, Emma Swan, was just starting to spark.
The season premiered with the episode “Desperate Souls” last night, but audiences will have to tune in on Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC to find out how the plot continues.
Reach the reporter at newlin.tillotson@asu.edu
